MOST POWERFUL ARTIFICIAL TORNADO AT MERCEDEZ-BENZ MUSEUM, GERMANY

The Mercedes-Benz Museum is home to more than just automobiles. In 2007, the Guinness Book of Records gave it recognition for housing the "strongest artificially generated tornado in the world." The 34.4 meter high (that is 37.2 yards to those metrically challenged) vortex was not designed as an attraction, but to channel smoke out of the building in the event of a fire. In the event of fire, 144 outlets located along the core walls inject air into the interior courtyard of the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The 100-feet twister takes around seven minutes to materialize, drawing smoke out of the building's corridors and funneling it upwards and out an exhaust vent on the roof.